AVS 63rd International Symposium & Exhibition
    In-Situ and Operando Spectroscopy and Microscopy for Catalysts, Surfaces, & Materials Focus Topic Thursday Sessions
       Session IS-ThA

Paper IS-ThA9
Structural Response of Compact Copper Surfaces to CO Adsorption and its Effects of Reactivity

Thursday, November 10, 2016, 5:00 pm, Room 101C

Session: Ambient Pressure Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Scanning Probe Techniques
Presenter: Baran Eren, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)
Authors: B. Eren, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)
G.A. Somorjai, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)
M.B. Salmeron, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)
Correspondent: Click to Email
The most compact and stable surfaces of copper, namely the (111), (100), and (110) faces undergo massive reconstructions in the presence of carbon monoxide at room temperature at pressures in the Torr range. They decompose into two-dimensional nanoclusters. This is a double effect of of low cohesive energy of copper compared to other active metals and the high gain in adsorption energy at under-coordinated sites. With atomically resolved STM images and DFT calculations we provide a rationale for this behavior. Finally, we show that the surfaces which are broken up into clusters are more active for water dissociation, a key step in the water gas shift reaction.